This edition focuses on the employment situation of immigrants. For the first time, this report presents a "scoreboard" of labour-market integration of immigrants, as well as an analysis of wage differentials between immigrants and the native-born.

The publication also examines the new laws governing immigrants’ entry, stay and access to the labour market. The selective recruitment of immigrants according to labour market needs is described, as are measures to facilitate the integration of immigrants. International cooperation to improve border control and to combat irregular migration is analysed in detail.

Two special chapters analyse topical issues. The first addresses the management of migration of lower-skilled workers and reviews the different types of existing temporary and permanent programmes. Special attention is devoted to the issue of illegal employment of foreigners and to regularisation programmes. The second chapter presents an in-depth study of return migration and looks at its impact on the economic development of sending countries.

A dynamic link (StatLink) is provided for each table and graph. It directs the user to a web page where the corresponding data are available in Excel® format.

Mexican migration continues to be dominated by migration flows to the US – either of Mexicans or of immigrants from other Central and South American countries that use Mexico as a transit state. Unauthorised immigration from Mexico to the US is estimated to be at about 315 000 persons per year, adding to the about 6 570 000 unauthorised Mexicans already in the US. With the increased physical border controls that are the result of legislation to increase border security passed by the US government in 2006, there are signs that the flows may have somewhat diminished since then.